by Victor T. Foia (Author)
Dracula is among the most famous names in history-and one of the least understood.
Before history knew him as Vlad the Impaler, he was the second son of Wallachia's ruler: highly educated, fluent in several languages, fascinated by history, and destined to stand behind an elder brother expected to inherit the throne. Vlad had little desire to rule. His ambitions lay in travel, learning, and the wider currents of European life.
But fifteenth-century Wallachia occupies a perilous frontier between Christian Europe and the expanding Ottoman Empire. Its princes survive through uneasy alliances, calculated betrayals, and concessions that can preserve a kingdom while destroying those made to secure it.
When Ottoman raiders carry off a band of Wallachian youths, Vlad defies his father and sets out after them. The pursuit draws him beyond the protection of the royal court and into a contest of violence, loyalty, and political necessity. What he witnesses-and the decision he ultimately makes-will carry him toward the Ottoman world and alter the course of his life.
Drawing upon four decades of research and his perspective as a native of Transylvania, Victor T. Foia recreates fifteenth-century Eastern Europe in vivid historical detail: its royal courts and ruined churches, its competing faiths, its dynastic rivalries, and the gathering power of the Ottomans.
Son of the Dragon opens Dracula Chronicles, an epic historical saga tracing the transformation of a reluctant Wallachian prince into the formidable ruler history would call the Impaler.
This is not the story of a supernatural monster. It is the story of the real Dracula-and of the world that made him.
Author Biography
Victor T. Foia was born in Transylvania where he studied theoretical physics at the university of Cluj. At the age of 22 Victor escaped from behind the Iron Curtain and defected to Italy. After a waiting period of months spent in UN refugee camps, he emigrated to the United States. There Victor graduated from the Universities of Illinois and Dallas. He then embarked upon a career as an international corporate executive. Presently he is engaged full time in writing historical fiction. Victor's interest in Dracula dates from the age of six, when he first visited his compatriot's birthplace only a hundred miles from his own. Soon this interest became a lasting passion for research into Dracula's life. Exploring castles, fortresses, and monasteries throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East, Victor went beyond the iconic Dracula literature to ferret out the essence of the man behind the Legend. The four decade long quest has taken Victor to virtually all the places where Dracula lived, loved, fought, and was imprisoned. In the end, by the empty tomb from where the prince disappeared without a trace 535 years ago, Victor felt his journey of discovery was complete and now the story of the real Dracula could be told.
Number of Pages: 370
Dimensions: 0.82 x 9 x 6 IN
Publication Date: February 13, 2013
